iPad 5 rumor rollup for the week ending May 16

John Cox |
May 17, 2013

Even before summer, the iOSphere languishes in the iPad rumor doldrums, apparently having exhausted itself with hopes for a Retina display iPad mini 2, and the A7 chip for the iPad 5. But there is hope: The Rollup uncovered the radical iPadiGlasses, in an exclusive report.

Or you can just pretend that an utterly unfounded rumor is a leak, which is that Matthew Humphries does at Geek.com. "There are some clear improvements here over the existing iPad mini that should make this a no brainer upgrade for most existing owners. The display remains the same size, but has increased its resolution to match that of its big brother. Apparently we're also going to see the processor upgraded from the dual-core A5 to an A6X chip, which is necessary to handle that higher resolution display. Both cameras are also getting a healthy upgrade from the current 5MP and 1.2MP parts."

Remember that he bases this on the MobiLeaks post which itself is based on nothing. Except possibly wishful thinking.

iPad mini 2 will have A7 processorApple rumors, like amoebas, reproduce themselves by a process of mitosis: they subdivide into new entities.

The MobiLeaks post mentioned above had the following about the Next iPad mini's processor: "The processor of the iPad Mini 2 is the Apple A6X, who also was fitted on the iPad 4. But according to our tipster is still not fixed. Since Apple is engaged in the production of the A7 chip, there is a possibility that this chipset is provided on the new iPad Mini."

In other words, the tablet will have the existing A6X chip. Unless it has the not-yet-existing A7 chip.

Here's how International Business Times' Erik Pineda interpreted this "report." First, the carefully designed headline: "iPad 5, iPad Mini 2 with Retina Landing in September with A7 Chips - Report."

Yet the MobiLeaks post nowhere mentions "iPad 5."

Pineda's opening sentence: "Apple's iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2 release date has been set for September this year and the new iOS 7 tablet rollout is packed with vast improvements like Retina display panel and a faster A7 computing chip, a new report said."

An unsubstantiated, unsourced blog post that merely repeats other rumors becomes a fertile source for multiple new rumors, equally without foundation.

The issue of what chip Apple will use in the Next iPads, and Next iPhone, is the subject of endless speculation. Depending on how one defines "next," Next iDevices will have a 64-bit A7, a 20 nanometer A7, a four-core A7, some combination of these, the A6X chip now in the fourth-generation iPad, or even a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

To power the Retina display to the third-generation iPad, introduced in March 2012, Apple created the A5X system-on-chip, choosing a 45 nanometer silicon process instead of 32 nanometer, resulting in a really big component, with an area of 163 square millimeters compared to 123 for the A5. And it created a much bigger battery. Apple faces the same issues in powering a Retina display but it has solve them in the physically much smaller iPad mini.